This could be once or twice a week, once or twice a month or even once or twice a year. In actual fact networking is a way of life and is something to be worked on both formally and informally every single day.
Let me explain exactly what I mean by that. Any time that you talk about what you do or what your ambitions and goals are, you are networking. This means that networking is just as likely to happen in the gym or at the club as it is in a Business Chamber event. If you bear in mind the number of people that everyone else knows and that you do not know who people know, this puts pretty much every single conversation that you have each and every day into a new and powerful perspective. You don’t have to be at a formal event to be “doing” networking.
People who are incorporating networking as a way of life into their way of life realise that they need to work on their network for at least 15 minutes per day. This includes the days that they are not attending a formal networking event.
I think of networking as being like a vegetable garden. In order for you to be able to eat the vegetables at harvest time it is not just a matter of planting the seeds or plants and forgetting them. You need to do something virtually every day to cultivate the vegetable growth – watering, weeding, putting on insect repellent, choosing and applying the right fertiliser etc. It is the same with your network. To cultivate the relationships and be able to harvest the rewards you need to do things all of the time.
Some of the ways of effectively cultivating and nurturing your network each day are as follows:-
• Send a greetings card – keeping in touch, motivational, thank you for the referral
• Make a phone call (not a sales call, just make contact)
• If you see an article (either printed or online) that you think would be of interest to someone in your network, send it to that person
• Give someone a referral
• Write a testimonial for someone you have done business with and send it to them
These are just a few ideas – I am sure you could get creative and think of some other things.
If you do something small each and every day, you will be amazed at the results – and it is easier than trying to do everything all in one go every month or three months or, worse, year. Also, you will be able to track the results consistently and make the little changes – that constant and never-ending improvement – to get even better results.
As a little aside, I am presenting a 10-week webinar series designed to help you get better results with your networking. It started on the 28th July. I am making the recording of Session 1 available for FREE so that you can make an informed decision about registering and paying for the rest of the series. Recordings will always be available for any that you miss. To find out more and get your free recording please email me on info@abundantyou.com.
Happy Networking! | 
